# Do I have to get a sponsor?

**In short:**
- The Big Book doesn't say you have to. The word "sponsor" isn't in its program (pages 1–164), and nothing in the book makes having one a condition of membership or of recovery.
- The 1939 Foreword names one requirement for membership: "an honest desire to stop drinking" (p. xiv).
- What the book does say is that you can't do this entirely alone. You tell your whole story to another person (Step Five), and you go out and help other alcoholics (Step Twelve). It leaves the choice of who that person is to you.
- The standing relationship many rooms now call sponsorship, a senior member guiding you through the Steps over months, isn't described anywhere in the program.

## What the book asks of a newcomer

The first edition's Foreword describes the fellowship in 1939: "There are no fees or dues whatsoever" and "The only requirement for membership is an honest desire to stop drinking" (p. xiv).

The Steps themselves are introduced as "suggested as a program of recovery" (p. 59), and the last chapter says "Our book is meant to be suggestive only" (Ch. 11, p. 164).

The book even pictures a reader who has no A.A. member near him at all. After describing how the fellowship spread, it tells him he can do the same, though he be "one man with this book in your hand" (Ch. 11, p. 163). It hopes the book "contains all you will need to begin" (Ch. 11, p. 163), and tells that reader his real reliance is on God, who "will show you how to create the fellowship you crave" (Ch. 11, p. 164).

## Where you might expect a sponsor, and what's there instead

**Step Five.** The book says plainly that a solitary self-appraisal usually isn't enough and that you must tell someone else your life story (pp. 72–73). Then it lists who that someone might be: a clergyman, "a close-mouthed, understanding friend" (p. 74), a doctor or psychologist, even a family member as long as it won't hurt them (p. 74). A sponsor isn't on the list. If no suitable person is available, the Step can be put off until one is, as long as it isn't an excuse (pp. 74–75).

**Step Twelve.** Chapter 7 describes an experienced member helping a newcomer, and it does picture guidance: "Having had the experience yourself, you can give him much practical advice" (p. 96). But the newcomer chooses. Let him know you're available to hear his story, "but do not insist upon it if he prefers to consult someone else" (p. 96). He's "under no obligation to you" (p. 94) and "needn't see you again if he doesn't want to" (p. 94). See: *Is "Working With Others" about sponsorship?*

## What the text doesn't let us say

The book doesn't say "go it alone" either. "We must be entirely honest with somebody" (p. 73). Its last instructions are to admit your faults "to Him and to your fellows" (Ch. 11, p. 164), and to "Give freely of what you find and join us" (Ch. 11, p. 164). Fellowship with other alcoholics, and helping them, runs through the whole program. What the book doesn't do is assign you one person to answer to.

## Where the word does turn up

Only in the personal stories at the back. In "The Vicious Cycle," one of the earliest, a "sponsor" is the person who brought you the message while you were still drinking (pp. 220, 226); in an Akron story set in 1937, it is Dr. Bob taking a newcomer through the early program in one afternoon (p. 263). See: *Is the word "sponsor" in the Big Book?*

## Read it yourself
- Foreword to the First Edition (pp. xiii–xiv), free from A.A.: https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_forewordfirstedition.pdf
- Chapter 6, "Into Action," where Step Five is explained (pp. 72–88): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt6.pdf
- Chapter 7, "Working With Others" (pp. 89–103): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt7.pdf
- Chapter 11, *A Vision for You* (pp. 151–164): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt11.pdf
- The full book, *Alcoholics Anonymous*, from A.A. World Services: https://onlineliterature.aa.org
- Related: *Is the word "sponsor" in the Big Book?* · *Is "Working With Others" about sponsorship?* · *What does Step 12 really say?*

## Sources
| Source | Pages | First published |
|---|---|---|
| *Alcoholics Anonymous*, Foreword to the First Edition | xiii–xiv | 1939 |
| *Alcoholics Anonymous*, Chapter 5, "How It Works" (the Steps) | 59 | 1939 |
| *Alcoholics Anonymous*, Chapter 6, "Into Action" (Step Five) | 72–75 | 1939 |
| *Alcoholics Anonymous*, Chapter 7, "Working With Others" | 94, 96 | 1939 |
| *Alcoholics Anonymous*, Chapter 11, "A Vision for You" | 162–164 | 1939 |
| "The Vicious Cycle" and "He Sold Himself Short," Part I of the personal stories | 220, 226, 263 | stories describing 1938 and 1937; not program text |

Page numbers are from the fourth edition (2001). The Preface says the program chapters have been "left largely untouched" since 1939 (p. xi), but our sources have no first edition to compare page numbers against.

*Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. Quotations are brief and cited; the Big Book is © A.A. World Services, Inc.*